News extra

UK launches study to follow childhood cancer survivors

Richard Woodman, London

Thousands of Britons who survived cancer as children are being followed up to find out how many develop further cancer, become infertile, or suffer other health problems after radiotherapy or chemotherapy, the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) announced this week.

The British Childhood Cancer Survivors' Study will compare rates of illness and cancer among 16 000 survivors and 3000 of their children with rates in the general population. Family histories will be checked to assess to what extent the risk of childhood cancer is inherited. Long term monitoring will also document any long term effects of cancer treatment such as infertility or heart disease and whether survivors are more likely to start smoking.

Researchers led by Dr Mike Hawkins, reader in epidemiology at Birmingham University, told a news conference in London that there were grounds for concern that girls treated for cancer in their teens might be less fertile and have an early menopause. In boys, certain treatments might affect the testes, while in both sexes there was evidence that the risk of bone cancer in later life increases with the dose of radiotherapy used to treat the original cancer.

"It is only by following up for decades that one becomes fully aware of the long term risks as well as the benefits of treatment," suggested Dr Hawkins. "We hope to provide, for the first time, reliable and unbiased information on a comprehensive scale about whether childhood cancer or its treatment causes health problems later on."

The much improved prognosis for patients with childhood cancer has made this issue increasingly important. In Britain, there are now more than 10 000 adult survivors of childhood cancer, increasing at the rate of more than 500 a year.

Dr Mike Stevens, the chairman of the UK Children's Cancer Study Group, said that five-year childhood cancer survival now exceeded 70%, but it was still essential to find out why some children were not cured and to maximise the quality of life of survivors. "One of the study group’s aims is to improve treatments and find drugs most suitable for children to avoid putting them at long term risk. To do this the group plans to expand its programme of new drug trials."
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